States' Rights

Quick tho't:

Whenever you hear somebody yammerin' on about supporting State's Rights, you need to stop just long enough to understand that what he's most likely saying is that he doesn't want the Federal Gov't interfering with the State Government as it fucks over the people who live in that state.  Just so we're clear, y'know?

Some People

Why is it that people of a certain political bent seem to end up positively obsessed with the president's dick?

Jr Bush does his little jet landing stunt on the aircraft carrier, and people get all buzzed about "the presidential package":

But the truly creepy seems to be reserved for presidents of the Democrat persuasion.  Recently of course was Clinton - way too easy; the guy's a complete horndog - and now it's Obama's turn.  This time there's an interesting twist tho'.  And it's starting to sound a little too much like the weird-science shit that the Jim Crow Fan Club was fond of.  Things like "black people's brains are smaller so they couldn't possibly be expected to operate a complex machine like a P51 Mustang" or "the black man's lung capacity doesn't allow him to perform at the level of athletic competition here at the University of Alabama."   Maybe it's just a revisit of the old standby - white fear of black dick.  

I dunno, but it seems like it's popped up again in some pretty stupid sounding legislation in Arizona:

If you intend to run for president in Arizona but don't have the required birth certificate, all is not lost. The state may be willing to accept a description of your penis -- if you've got one -- as proof you were born in the U.S.

Happy Fucking Easter

Sometimes, I need a little help remembering there are still lots of people wearing US colors who're fighting and bleeding and dying.  No matter what I think of their missions, or what I suspect about their leaders' motives, or that they're all personally responsible for their own actions, or anything else that gives me nightmares of dark heavy wings beating around all ours heads - I think it's important to concentrate on the obvious.  The simple truth is that these are people.  We trained them and armed them and sent then to places nobody wants to go.  Too many don't come home at all, and way too many are coming home with injuries we'll be having to deal with for a very long time.

Why do we insist on doing this to people we claim to love and honor?  Why do we insist on sending the best and the brightest among us to be killed in the most gruesome, horrific ways imaginable?  Why do we accept circumstances that make it nearly impossible to get any of our kids back from combat who aren't permanently damaged?

We are not threatened in any significant way.  There is no "existential risk" here - with the possible exception of the risk we pose to ourselves.

2 uniformed service members were killed in Iraq yesterday, bringing the total US Dead to 4,450 since March 2003.  When will Mr Obama keep his promise to end this stupid war?

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

RIck Perry's in a bit of a pickle.  Texas is bone dry, and to hear some tell it, about 2/3 of the joint's on fire.

Not wanting to look too much more like a raging hypocrite...

...shortly after his tea party talk about secession, Perry sought help from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in dealing with a swine flu outbreak in Texas.

...last July, when flooding hit 21 counties in the wake of Hurricane Alex, Perry also sought federal disaster aid. 

...with fires raging, he has sought federal disaster aid and federal assistance in fighting the fires. One result? As The Times reported this week: "Every heavy air tanker in the country is being deployed, ... as are four C-130s and the California-based DC-10 fire tanker."

...he's issued a proclamation calling for 3 days of prayer.  And of course, once it does actually rain somewhere in Texas - even a little - he can point at it and claim a measure of success.  All the rubes will shout amen and go right on holding themselves out as rugged individualists and mavericks and stand-alone god-fearin' patriots.

These people have no soul and no honor.

The Game Of Opposites

"What you want in a media system is ostensible diversity that conceals actual uniformity."
--Joseph Goebbels

Keith

Olbermann doesn't do this very often - I imagine he's pretty busy putting his new show together and all - but I really like the low-end production values here. I like the feel that he's doing it from somewhere underground; like he's been forced into a kind of guerilla resistance mode. And I hope the show on CurrentTV doesn't end up being too slick.

Obama Revealed

Finally, we have proof positive that Barack Obama wasn't born in Kenya.

It's pretty obvious to me that he was born in Somalia.

Funny Fingers

Dem Issue Ad

Lax, Brah

A shot so wicked hot, it's got the defense duckin' for cover.

The Repubs' Closet

A Tea Party GOPer named Marilyn Davenport caused a ruckus over the weekend by forwarding an email featuring this picture:

And of course, the usual firestorm is in progress with local GOP officials calling for her to step down, while her supporters defend her.  And the comments sections of every story I've read so far are filled with righteous indignation and tit-for-tat name-calling, but also there's a shortage of the usual "both sides do it" bullshit, and I've seen only a couple of comments that try to rationalize Davenport's act.

So maybe there's something else at work too.

Scott Baugh (OC GOP Chair) says he thinks Davenport should resign despite her apologies, because "her presence on the committee would remain controversial and provide a distraction."  He goes on to acknowledge the email as "extremely racist", but somehow, the racism isn't why Davenport should resign?

Maybe the Repubs recognize they have a real problem with what their base has become - or at the very least that they have a huge PR problem when the actions of the Tea Partiers seem to confirm the Lefties' accusations that the GOP has been hijacked by a bunch of racist assholes.

I dunno, but the Repubs have to get a hold on this shit if they ever want a chance to win me back.  This is exactly what drove me away from the Dems when their fringey nutballs decided to challenge Carter in 1980, and then thought it was a good idea to nominate Fritz Mondale in '84.

A Poem

The Genius of the Crowd --Charles Bukowski

There is enough treachery, hatred,
           violence,
Absurdity in the average human
           being
To supply any given army on any given
   day.
AND The Best At Murder Are Those
   Who Preach Against It.
AND The Best At Hate Are Those
   Who Preach LOVE
AND THE BEST AT WAR
--FINALLY--ARE THOSE WHO
PREACH
               PEACE

Those Who Preach GOD
   NEED God
Those Who Preach PEACE
   Do Not Have Peace.
THOSE WHO PREACH LOVE
   DO NOT HAVE LOVE
BEWARE THE PREACHERS
Beware The Knowers.

           Beware
           Those Who
           Are ALWAYS
           READING
           BOOKS

Beware Those Who Either Detest
   Poverty Or Are Proud Of It

BEWARE Those Quick To Praise
For They Need PRAISE In Return

BEWARE Those Quick To Censure:
They Are Afraid Of What They Do
Not Know

Beware Those Who Seek Constant
Crowds; They Are Nothing
Alone

           Beware
           The Average Man
           The Average Woman
  BEWARE Their Love

Their Love Is Average, Seeks
Average
But There Is Genius In Their Hatred
There Is Enough Genius In Their
Hatred To Kill You, To Kill
Anybody.

Not Wanting Solitude
Not Understanding Solitude
They Will Attempt To Destroy
Anything
That Differs
From Their Own

           Not Being Able
           To Create Art
           They Will Not
           Understand Art

They Will Consider Their Failure
As Creators
Only As A Failure
Of The World

Not Being Able To Love Fully
They Will BELIEVE Your Love
Incomplete
AND THEN THEY WILL HATE
YOU

And Their Hatred Will Be Perfect
Like A Shining Diamond
Like A Knife
Like A Mountain
LIKE A TIGER
LIKE Hemlock

           Their Finest
           ART

from The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems 1946-1966, Black Sparrow Press

Try This One Out

I stumbled onto this blog today, and it seems worth a look.

A sample from one of the articles:

Humans can be an untrusting race. People are often very cynical about human nature, tending to think that strangers will happily lie to us if there is something in it for them.

We intuitive believe that being cynical is an advantage in detecting lies. Or so Nancy Carter and J. Mark Weber found when they asked a group of MBA students whether people high or low in trust would be better at detecting lies in others (Carter & Weber, 2010).

The results were as we'd expect: 85% thought low trusters are better than high trusters at lie detection.

Is this the right answer though? Are low-trusters really better at detecting lies?

Doing Well...

...by doing good.

My old friend Ed Freeman talking with Whole Foods CEO John Mackey about a lot of things, like reclaiming certain aspects of capitalism, and stripping away some common misperceptions of free markets and Adam Smith, and a bunch of other stuff.  I still don't agree with all of it, but I know Ed to be one of the good guys so I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The suits at Darden School of Business don't allow embedding, so follow this link to YouTube.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KeaR0G-DxU)

Rand Of The Day